About The Best American Nonrequired Reading Committee

Our selection committee consists of a handful of high school students. Onecontingent is in the Bay Area and a second is in Ann Arbor, Michigan.These students help Dave Eggers edit The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Daniel Gumbiner is the book's managing editor; Henry W. Leung and Jia Tolentinoare the assistant managing editors facilitating the committee in Michigan.

This collection, published by Houghton-Mifflin, compiles the country's best

fiction, journalism, essays, comics, and humor every year, and introduces

a large readership to dozens of new writers and publications.

The Best American Nonrequired Reading committee—comprising

students from dozens of different high schools—meets nearly every week of the

Bora: "I like how this story pits science against religion. The plot circles around Maria; she's pronounced 'benevolence,' even though she's committed murder and doesn't feel bad about it. She's a helper-lady at the prison, and it's basically her against this minister-chaplain man. Phrenology means certain bumps on a person's head can reveal character traits, like being a criminal, but it's completely undocumented. "

Naomi: "I really liked the subject, and I think it's interesting to talk about, science and religion. The idea of all that being in this woman's head, physically, is really cool."

Bora: "It's just a widely-written about topic. It's the way Jefferson said people institutionalized slavery. It's linked with eugenics."

Carmen: "It's that some people use eugenics to try to prove racial superiority."

Bora: "How do you measure benevolence? She has a big bump on her head, and that's supposed to mean benevolence?"